Driving

I just spent some time in an empty parking lot teaching Danielle how to drive a stick shift. Sort of like the blind leading the blind here. Well, to be honest I’m doing great driving and it’s almost second nature. The traffic circles in residential are a bit tricky but I’m getting the hang of it. Danielle did great and was picking it up really quickly. She won’t have trouble with driving a stick I’m sure. It’s too bad automatics are so expensive as we would have preferred an automatic transmission but they are hard to come by in small cars.

Earlier today we drove to the grocery store to get some bottled water. The tap water was brown yesterday so we weren’t drinking it. It was really brown and murky – very disgusting. Strangely the tap water is clear again but I don’t know what the problem was so we will stick to bottles for a few days.

We found a little beach near the house. I didn’t realize how close this house is to the Swan River. Since I got here I’ve hardly left my normal path to and from school or the local IGA. Now that I’m on a break it’s nice to explore a little. The Swan river connects to the ocean not far from here so its basically ocean water around our neighborhood. At least it smells like ocean water. We also found some massive mansions that run along the river.

Painful

I had a doctor’s appointment today because since my last visit to the doctor my foot pain has gone unresolved. Daily anti-inflammatories and “keep your foot elevated” are not viable solutions after this long if you ask me. The doctor is still puzzled as to what is wrong. She got a second opinion on the spot and, surprisingly, the second doctor had no clue either. Any atypical condition seems to leave doctors flabbergasted. Anyway she has referred me to a dermatologist at this point. She also had the on site nurse take blood. I thought it was strange that they don’t send patients to a lab for blood work but it was very convenient to do it right there. I’m not a huge fan of having blood taken but who really enjoys it. The nurse looked to be about 80 years old so I was confident she would be able to find a vein faster than your typical street junkie. Unfortunately I was wrong. She butchered my left arm and gave me a very painful jab. She got some blood but not enough so on to round two on my right arm. I left with band-aids on each arm marking the most painful session of giving blood I have experienced to date.

I’m still jobless.

We’re really loving the car. It drives great and being able to buy groceries without worrying about buying too much to transport home in my back-pack is really nice.

I promised more pictures

I was just going through some recent pictures on my computer and found this picture I had taken while I was studying for exams. I was up late that night and I noticed the camera sitting on the desk so I snapped a picture. I think I had cabin fever by that point from too much studying. Paper and books everywhere.



Not the type of pictures you were hoping for I imagine.

Went to a movie

Danielle and I just got back from the cinema. We caught a late showing of "Michael Clayton" which was enjoyable. Already the car has been great to have because we haven't been able to get to the movie theater on our bikes. Other than that the day was uneventful because we actually spent the entire afternoon cleaning the house. This place gets dirty fast and none of the other house mates really like the place as clean as Danielle and I do so we have been doing the brunt of the cleaning. It sucks to have to clean all the time but I'd rather clean then live in a dump. Last week I spent a long time scrubbing the shower clean. The next day there was someones snot on the tiles so I had to put up a sign in the bathroom telling people to refrain from blowing their snot all over the shower. Rock bottom if you ask me.

I need to start a job this week. Hopefully I get one soon!

I just remembered that Danielle and I went for a long bike ride this morning before the sun got really bright. We biked along the ocean and took some nice pictures. I don't have them uploaded yet so stay tuned.

Got a car!

Well, after a lot of looking Danielle and I finally found a car and bought it. Its a 1998 Nissan Pulsar hatchback. Reliable and practical but nothing special. Most importantly it has air conditioning! We got a really good deal on the thing after much haggling. Its got hight kilometers but seems to be in great shape.

It's got a manual transmission so on top of driving on the wrong side of the road I've got to learn to shift with my left hand. Very strange indeed. I think I'm doing really well so far. I had to drive the car quiet a distance to get it home and everything went fine.

Danielle and I spent this afternoon cleaning and detailing the car. It looks great now. The paint shines in the bright sunlight. I like the color - not that we were shopping for a particular color. Its got some strange plastic covers over both front windows. You can clearly see them in the picture of us washing the car. These plastic bits are common on cars here in Perth. I plan to take them off asap because I think they look silly and serve no purpose.

Enjoy the pictures.

So much for daily posting

I really wanted to post daily. The problem is that I don’t have much to say.

Today was uneventful. We biked to Coles, the large grocery store chain her in Perth, to get some food for the week. Rice pops, imitation Rice Krispies, were on sale for $2.19 – how exciting. I had to bike home with a huge box of rice pops strapped to the back of my bicycle.

Tomorrow I’m planning to drop into school and see the dean of pharmacy. I’m going to ask him if I can use him as a reference on my resume. He’d be a great reference and I know him pretty well so it’s worth a shot. Then I’m dropping off some resumes at the local pharmacies.

We Still don’t have a car. The newest buy and sell comes out on Thursday so hopefully I can find a car this week! Id' really like to get a Nissan or Toyota hatch back.

More car shopping

I didn't post yesterday because there wasn't much to say. I've been taking it easy. It's nice to be done school. I've finally been able to catch up on some sleep.

I'm going to apply for some jobs within the next few days. I still don't have a work visa so getting one will be my task for tomorrow.

Today Danielle and I went with Stephen to look at some cars. It was a complete waste of time. I'm getting really frustrated trying to find a car. There isn't much for sale and every car I've seen has been absolute junk. Today the first car we looked at had clearly been in an accident and it was poorly repaired. The seller was asking a premium for that model as well and he denied the accident while I was pointing out the bent metal and bondo. The second car we went to see was advertised as a hatchback but after driving 35 minutes to get there we found it was a sedan. Complete waste of time as I'm looking for a hatchback.

More car shopping to come this week.

A post for the lurkers

I’m not getting many comments on my blog other than those comments from the regulars. Thank you regulars – it’s nice to know people are reading.

As for the people who aren’t commenting this post is just for YOU. Here we have a tutorial on how to post a comment on my blog… incase you we’re unsure. Figures have also been included for your reference.

To post a comment follow these five simple steps:
Step 1 – From the main blog page click on the “0 comments” hotlink. This hotlink is indicated in Figure 1 by a large red arrow.
Step 2 – Type your comment into the large white box (indicated in Figure 2)
Step 3 – Under "choose an identity" select the "other"radiobutton
Step 4 – Fill in your name in the “Name” field as seen in Figure 2
Step 5 – Click the large orange button to submit your comment. This button is indicated by red arrow in Figure 2.

Please note: the red arrows will not appear on your screen to guide you when you attempt to post a comment. The arrows are only visible in the demonstration images I have provided. You should also note that Step 5 is absolutely essential.

Isn’t that easy!


Anyway, someone told me recently that they don’t know how to comment on my blog so I thought I would include this post. I’m glad to have readers and it would be nice to hear from you.

Good night.

Done Term 1

So, today was my last exam. I'm done term 1 which means I'm 25% done the course work for this masters degree. I've got a few weeks off now then I start a practical placement in a pharmacy. Exciting.

I hope to post daily while I'm on this break. Stay tuned.

How am I going to sleep

Its really hot here now. Today it actually was 36*C as predicted. The house is hot, everything is hot. I stepped outside in the sun just for a second to feel how hot is was and I couldn't take it. The sun is so hot and bright here. Much different than the sunlight we get in Canada. I think it has something to do with the lack of ozone. I just checked the temperature and its currently 30*C at 11:05 PM. I hope gets markedly cooler in the next few hours or I won't get a wink of sleep.

I better get going as I have to convince Danielle that we need to buy a portable A/C unit. Oh, and I have to study some more.

Two exams done ... two more to go.

I haven't updated in a few days because there is nothing new to report. I've been studying too much and I'm getting sick of reading/memorizing. Five more days to go. When I'm done I'm going to catch up on some sleep and and relax for a few days. Hopefully, Danielle and I can find some fun things to do/see while I have a break. I'm really looking forward to seeing more. Also I'm planning to be lazy and play computer games for a few days until I have to start pounding the pavement to find a job. I currently have zero job prospects.

Its starting to get really hot. Today was over 30*C and I can feel it in the house. I was sitting here sweating this afternoon while trying to study at my desk. Very uncomfortable! Tomorrow is expected to be 36*C.

That is all for now.

One down three to go

Had my first final exam today. It was pharmacy technology and I was not worried about it at all. I had a great mark going into the exam so there was nothing to worry about. The exam went well. My next exam is this Thursday and its pharmaceutics. I'm studying for pharmaceutics right now.

Anyway. I thought I'd update to say that my first final went well. I'm very sleepy at the moment. I need to get some rest.

Ants in my pants.

I haven’t mentioned anything about the terrain here in Western Australia. Basically the entire state is a huge pile of sand. There is sand everywhere they don’t really have topsoil. The grass is all sandy even.

I think ants like to live in the sand and I see those little ant hills made of sand with a tiny hole in the middle on a daily basis. Our driveway is covered in ants some days. Well the other day I went outside to watch the planes from the Redbull air race flying in the sky. I could hear the planes from inside the house so I thought I’d check it out. Once outside I couldn’t see much so after about thirty seconds I went back inside. I quickly noticed an ant crawling on my arm. Then I found a few others on my other arm and legs. I must have been standing in their path so they just crawled up my leg.

I decided to have a shower to get them off of me because I was unsure if I picked them all off and for all I know they’re deadly ants. This is Australia after all.

Car shopping

Yesterday I went to look at a car called a Daihatsu Sirion. Looks nice in the picture but they are no-name cars which are basically tin cans. It wasn’t in great shape but the cars in my price range tend to be kind of beat. The car had a large dent in the rear and it needed tires immediately. Also, the interior was dirty – why don’t people take the time to clean a car they are selling? I asked the seller if he had done any recent work on the car and he replied “no its been a great car”. To me that translates to “this car is due to have a lot of parts replaced”. I took it for a test drive around the block marking my second time driving a manual on the left side of the road. It drove okay. I still don’t like driving on this opposite side of the road but I’m going to have to get used to it. As for this car, I might call him up and try to low ball him since I think he’s asking too much based on what I noticed. I really only went to see this one because it wasn't far from us.

I’m not too pressed to get a car at the moment as my first exam is on Monday so I’m more worried about studying. Back to It then.